DMT Aligner or Manga-Guide?

ssblood

ssblood

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The Sharpmaker just isn't working for me. I have several Kershaws that are a waste of time to even try to get sharp on it. I tried the marker trick and the back seems to hit pretty decent all along the edge but I'm just touching the top of the edge on the front of the blade.
What would be the better choice to replace it? The Aligner or the Magna-Guide. I'm leaning towards the Magna-Guide for the dia-folds that could be used alone once I get the hand of holding it at the proper angle (if that ever happens). An Edge Pro is just a little to pricey for me at this time.
Or should I just buy a bench stone and figure it out:rolleyes:
I have several knives I'd like to reprofile and know I'd need to get the EC stone I'm just unsure which kit would be the best to use.
 
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I think the Aligner costs just a bit less for all the stones, and you can get the curved and serrated stone kit for it as well.

That having been said, I like the MagnaGuide a little bit better because I think the Diafolds will stay a bit straighter than the stones squeezed into the Aligner fixture, and I much prefer the Diafold handles to the Aligner handle. I also like the freehand option on the MG better.

I would get the system first over the benchstones simply because it is much more cost effective for the same abrasives. I still use and like the benchstones, but they do require a bit of cash to round them all up. It may be that you could get by with just one or two stones for what you need, and you would know which ones if you had a kit.

I don't have the 8" EEF stone, but I do enjoy playing around with the same grit on the Magna-guide now and again.
 
From what I've read neither one do so great on a recurve.. Will the knife just adapt to it? I'm not that worried about it changing the shape of the blade, just want to make sure it will sharpen the entire length.

Ok so I had to get off the fence... I went ahead and ordered http://www.amazon.com/DMT-DMG-4-Mag..._3?ie=UTF8&s=industrial&qid=1290391180&sr=8-3 and will have it Tuesday:D Now I'll put the Sharpmaker I just got Saturday on the For Sale forums and let someone else bash their head into the wall or achieve greatness one.
 
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I have that one, and really like using the EEF stone in it.

You might hang on to the Sharpmaker, it is a pretty good tool.

I don't think the Magna Guide is ideal for recurves, but could be usable for them. I have only used it on one, so am not much help. I ended up using a combination of the Magna Guide and some sandpaper on a dowel to finish up the job.
 
they make a recurve stone (med grit, so some complain about it) that goes into the aligner guide system. Somewhere around $20 or so.

I have the aligner, I would not give up your sharpmaker, I didn't give up mine.

Your 'fine' grit on the DMT is not going to be as fine as the 'medium' coarse brown stones on the sharpmaker. I almost thing that the EF DMT isn't as fine as the course on the sharpmaker.

Your extra-fine sharpmaker rods will probably leave you a better edge than any of the stones from DMT until you get your EEF diamond broke in. I still haven't broken mine in after a few months, but that's because I'm not using the thing enough (the OCD is weak with this one).
 
I recently got the Magna-Guide (with coarse/extra coarse and fine/extra fine) and a Norton 8x2 fine/coarse india benchstone at about the same time. After only an hour I found I was getting sharper edges and doing it faster on the benchstone than with the Magna-Guide. Never freehanded before in my life... lots of stropping, though. That probably helped in training. Anyway, it could just be the steel I'm getting frustrated with. I'm getting nowhere fast with my Manix 2's CTS-XHP on the Magna-Guide, even with the extra coarse diamonds.

But I wouldn't sell the Sharpmaker just yet. It's crap at actually sharpening knives, but once you get them sharp on something else, like the Magna-Guide, it's great at keeping them sharp.
 
The magna guide is the better buy IMO, more overall uses and I like that there is more to hold on to with the diafolds than the aligner stone holder.

The first time using the aligner on a blade not previously sharpened on the aligner will be the most labor intensive. You must cut a edge angle in relation to what the aligner gives you and 99.99% of the time factory angles will be nowhere close to the near perfect angles of the aligner. The other issue that makes it take so long on the initial grind is that as you get closer and closer to finishing the bevel shaping the amount of area (bevel) contact becomes greater requiring more strokes.

Some of my first hair splitting sharp edges were done on the aligner. Once you get the hang of it, it will produce extremely sharp edges every time.
 
Do you all prefer to use them dry or wet? Does it make much of a difference or extend the life of the stones to use them wet? I had a red DMT bench stone one time and thought I always had to use water with them but from the video and all I suppose I don't.

I'm feel like a kid at Christmas waiting for the FedEx man to come tommorow. I guess I know what I'll be doing while I'm off working for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Gotta love a company that pays both days:)
 
knifenut1013 said:
The other issue that makes it take so long on the initial grind is that as you get closer and closer to finishing the bevel shaping the amount of area (bevel) contact becomes greater requiring more strokes.
Click to expand...

Good point... never thought of that. I'll keep that in mind when I go back to the CTS-XHP for 'Round 7' tomorrow.

ssblood said:
Do you all prefer to use them dry or wet? Does it make much of a difference or extend the life of the stones to use them wet? I had a red DMT bench stone one time and thought I always had to use water with them but from the video and all I suppose I don't.

I'm feel like a kid at Christmas waiting for the FedEx man to come tommorow. I guess I know what I'll be doing while I'm off working for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Gotta love a company that pays both days:)
Click to expand...

I can't speak to the life of the stone/diamond when using wet or dry as I just got mine a little while ago. But I do find it a bit more effective wet. Thing is, I'm ALWAYS cleaning off my sharpening surfaces because loading/glazing is a major PITA to me... so it might just be saving me time in a sense, not actually improving performance.
 
Karl, once the bevel is set things will go very fast but remember that steel is not "soft" and even with diamonds will take some time. Also remember to use light pressure, if it feels like the diamonds are digging into the steel then your using too much. With light pressure you also might notice it works faster with a more refined scratch pattern.

Use of water is not really needed with the pok-a-dot stones as part of their design is for keeping swarf off the abrasive. While using them it is a good idea to occasionally wipe with a clean rag to prevent excess build-up. Build-up is really only a issue with the fine grades of hones and can eventually cause reduced cutting action and skipping of the stone. Excessive build-up can be visually seen as gray pencil like marks on the stone that don't easily wipe off. At this point it is best to use a cleaner like barkeepersfriend to remove the metal, the metal is deeply packed into the hone and normal soap and water won't take it out.

If you do use water while sharpening its best to use it with a little dish soap.
 
I know you're kidding, nevertheless I wouldn't want that repeated too often and attributed to me. I'm a regular over at the Spyderco sub-forum and wouldn't want to riase the ire of some of the hardcore Spydie-nuts;). In the end, however, I do stand behind that statement... immensely helpful diamond rods notwithstanding.
 
Good call man :thumbup: I had the Sharpmaker with every rod available and ended up never getting a shaving sharp knife.

I sold the darn thing and got the diafolds (all of them, from x-coarse to xx-fine) and just freehand them like the video on youtube shows.

6 -8 passes on each side through the grits and my knives finally shave hair effortlessly and without any time spent at all. Light pressure and let them do the work, while you worry about your technique.

Don't forget to wet them down and the clean 'em up after using. I just use tap water and a paper towel for a touch-up but serious sharpenings or every few uses, I'll sprinkle some Comet cleanser on them and lightly scrub them with a medium/soft palstic brush like they sell for dishes and such, rinse well and dry. Keeps 'em new.

I only bought the magna-guide for reprovifiling but rarely use it. It works great. You'll never go back once you use DMT products! ;)
 
My knife decided it was gonna cut thru the rag when I was cleaning the marker off. I didn't get the extra coarse stone yet so I'm not gonna completely rebel till then. I'm just playing with the knife I usually carry. 100 strokes or so with the blue and it cut me effortlessly.

The one bad thing is I now realize how crappy Kershaw's grinds are. It's rather sad that I would need to take a 1/16th or more off the knife to actually get the bevel even. The blue is 10X smoother than what the factory put on, it's rather :mad: disgusting.

I noticed too that I really don't have a burr at this point, it had one at a point but it's gone... This mean it's doing good?
 
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Many of the Kershaws have a slight recurve, it may be the edge isn't supposed to be even... :D

Yeah, the burr is just what you use to make sure you are getting all the way to the edge with your stones, it will have to be taken away eventually or your knife will never keep an edge, as the burr will continually fold over and blunt heavily.
 
It may have one, if it does its so subtle I couldn't notice it until i used a sharpie and sharpened it.
 
The nice thing about diamond stones is the ability to sharpen the burr away. Once the edge if formed the burr will be at it's largest point and you will no longer be working to bring the edge together but to refine the cutting edge that is established. Because the diamonds cut so clean you can remove the burr on each stone just by reducing the pressure.

It does seem best to work each stone in this way but you can move forward to the next stone once you feel the burr is small enough and the edge sharpness has at least doubled from the previous stone.
 
On the EEF stone I'm starting to notice what looks like little scratches, like hairline scratches. Is this normal?
 
ssblood said:
On the EEF stone I'm starting to notice what looks like little scratches, like hairline scratches. Is this normal?
Click to expand...

Are you talking about on your diafold or a scratch pattern developing on the edge?
 
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